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I wiped my disk clean and decided to dual boot Xubuntu 14.04 and Windows 7 in my laptop. I started by installing Windows 7 and created two 50Gb partitions - one for each SO - and other ~200Gb partition for storage.

I went on installing Windows in one of the partitions and was hoping I could simply install Xubuntu in the remaining 50Gb partition.

The problem is, the live CD installer doesn't acknowledge the existence of the Windows install and also does not display the 50Gb partition I left for the Xubuntu install.

No option for installing alongside Windows

Also, if I choose the "something else" option, it shows my whole drive as not being partitioned (?):

Partition scheme detected by installer

When I run in live CD mode (actually from a USB pen), it auto mounts the storage partition, the Windows partition and the boot partition (I'm guessing created by Windows).

See the mounted partitions

So, I was hoping someone could give me some pointers on how I could get the installer detecting the Windows install so I could dual-boot safely. I'm very new to Linux and this kind of operation scares me a bit because I don't want to damage my Windows 7 install - although it's backed up, I hate to have to "clean up" again... :)

EDIT:

I have been reading around about this and I know the Windows session was terminated correctly (ie, shut down). Also, the "Sistema reservado" (system reserved - I'm portuguese) partition in the image above shows the following:

System reserved partition contents

EDIT 2:

As requested, here's the Windows Disk Management screenshot:

Disk Management in Windows

EDIT 3:

Output of sudo gdisk -l:

xubuntu@xubuntu:~$ sudo gdisk -l
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.8.8

Problem opening -l for reading! Error is 2.
The specified file does not exist!

Output of sudo parted -l:

xubuntu@xubuntu:~$ sudo parted -l
Warning: /dev/sda contains GPT signatures, indicating that it has a GPT table.
However, it does not have a valid fake msdos partition table, as it should.
Perhaps it was corrupted -- possibly by a program that doesn't understand GPT
partition tables.  Or perhaps you deleted the GPT table, and are now using an
msdos partition table.  Is this a GPT partition table?
Yes/No? ^C                                                                
Model: ATA Hitachi HTS54323 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 320GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt

Number  Start  End  Size  File system  Name  Flags


Model: Lexar USB Flash Drive (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 16.0GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system  Flags
 1      57.3kB  16.0GB  16.0GB  primary  fat32        boot, lba

NOTE: the sudo parted -l command issued a warning about GPT tables before printing out the table. Also, the only thing showing up is a 16Gb pen drive I'm using with live Xubuntu.

EDIT 4:

I've been digging around a little bit more about GPT and Ubuntu not finding it/recognizing it and according to this answer, I output sudo fixparts /dev/sda:

xubuntu@xubuntu:~$ sudo fixparts /dev/sda
FixParts 0.8.8

Loading MBR data from /dev/sda

NOTICE: GPT signatures detected on the disk, but no 0xEE protective partition!
The GPT signatures are probably left over from a previous partition table.
Do you want to delete them (if you answer 'Y', this will happen
immediately)? (Y/N): n

Warning: 0xEE partition doesn't start on sector 1. This can cause problems
in some OSes.

MBR command (? for help): p

** NOTE: Partition numbers do NOT indicate final primary/logical status,
** unlike in most MBR partitioning tools!

** Extended partitions are not displayed, but will be generated as required.

Disk size is 625142448 sectors (298.1 GiB)
MBR disk identifier: 0xDD5E2C5F
MBR partitions:

                                                   Can Be   Can Be
Number  Boot  Start Sector   End Sector   Status   Logical  Primary   Code
   1      *           2048       206847   primary     Y        Y      0x07
   2                206848    104859647   primary              Y      0x07
   3             104859648    209717247   primary              Y      0x06
   4             209717248    625139711   primary              Y      0x07

Should I procede and fix the GPT table as indicated in the answer (by __zapping__ it)?

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Joum
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  • Can you post a screenshot of the partitions from within Windows Drive Manager? – bain Jun 10 '14 at 12:41
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    Can you post the output of sudo gdisk -l /dev/sda and sudo parted -l – bain Jun 10 '14 at 13:50
  • Is this relevant/a solution? http://askubuntu.com/questions/402877/gparted-and-ubuntu-installer-does-not-recognize-windows-partition-but-ubuntu-do – Joum Jun 10 '14 at 17:48
  • When you did gdisk -l you missed the /dev/sda off the end. Anyway, yes that looks like a relevant question, it seems likely your system originally had a GPT partition, which you installed over with an MBR install of Windows. The MBR partitions appear to match your Windows screenshot so I would say go ahead and run fixparts, then make sure Windows still boots, then try to install Ubuntu again. – bain Jun 10 '14 at 20:44
  • Answer y to the fixparts question about removing leftover GPT data; this will fix your problem. – Rod Smith Jun 11 '14 at 00:33

1 Answers1

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Had the same problem, disappeared after I used gparted to properly format partitions (root, swap, & home in an extended partition). I followed this dedoimedo's tutorial:

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/dual-boot-windows-7-xubuntu.html

I also followed dedoimedo's advice not to take the automatic setup, but chose the 'something else' option.

Good luck!

Tonkica
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